Decathlon

An athleticcompetition consisting of ten events. The modern decathlon is a two day affair with slightly different rules than normal track and field events. For instance, runners are allowed three false starts instead of two, and the maximum tail wind allowed for records is 4 meters per second instead of 2. As of now, only men compete in the decathlon (women compete in the heptathlon). The events in the modern decathlon:

The bizarre scoring of the decathlon relies on a series of tables to convert times and distances into points. Placing in an event doesn't matter - decathletes compete against a scoring table. For example, running the 100 meter dash in ten seconds is worth 1096 points, and a high jump of 2.39 meters is worth 1182 points. By converting to points, a tally can be made for the ten events and a winner can be declared.

Due to the extreme difficulty of winning a decathlon, the Olympic champion is generally referred to as "World's Greatest Athlete".

Decathlon is also an aptly titled game by Activision for the Atari 2600. Up to four players compete in the ten events of the decathlon. Running was done by whipping the joystick rapidly back and forth, and jumping was performed with the button. If you scored enough points, and sent a Polaroid of your final score to Activision, they sent you back a medal. Of course, you probably also got open cuts on your palms from joystick abrasion.

If you've still got an Atari and copy of Decathlon, you can try out this trick... In the pole vault event, after you let go of the pole, continue tapping the button. Your little decathlete will ascend much higher than he normally would, enabling you to rack up huge points.

Good old Decathalon for the Atari 2600. This is one of those games that you keep playing and playing, because you get just a tiny bit better every time you play. All 10 events are represented, (event list in node above). At its heart Decathalon for the Atari is just about timing your presses on that red button. But it seems like so much more. This is a great multiplayer game, (for up to 4 players).

This is a "How-To" on "Decathlon". But if you came here for information on how to train for a Decathlon, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed!!

Fact 1

I had Decathlon for my Atari 400 (and Atari 800XL and Atari 130XE) computers. And as others have mentioned, it was a great game that you just kept coming back for more, just to try and score one more point in each event!

Fact 2

I was a member of an electronics club in my school (yes, I'm a geek). We learned the basics of electronic components and "building block" circuitry. Including multivibrators.

Fact 3

I was a subscriber to Atari User magazine. This was for a number of years the only mainstream magazine in the UK dedicated to the Atari 8-bit computer range. On occasion, it would run a "series" of articles in consecutive magazines. And one of these was about controlling external hardware devices from your Atari computer - which was pretty simple because the joystick ports could easily be changed into output ports, giving you 8 on/off control lines. But as part of this, they had published the pinout for the joystick port.

Benjy the cheating geek

So, you can probably see where this is going.

I built an astable multivibrator using the components from my electronics club. I then, using a joystick extension cable, connected it across the "left" and "right" pins of the joystick input. All I then needed to do was play with the resistors and capacitors in the circuit (which determine the period of the astable) until they sent pulses into the computer at the optimum rate for Decathlon to think I was running as fast as is possible! It also had a switch to connect the pins through to the joystick, so I could play other games!

Somewhat like an "autofire" button on a joystick - but for running!

Needless to say I set some amazing scores with this. I think at one point, I managed to score over 1000 in every event, although unfortunately I have no pictures or record of this. Of course, while it made the 3 straight running events (100m, 400m and 1500m) no-brainers, there was still an element of skill in the throwing and jumping events as your timing was crucial as well.

Did I ever use this to cheat against friends? I couldn't possibly say!

In the modern Olympic Games, a composite
contest consisting of a 100-meter run, a broad jump, putting the shot,
a running high-jump, a 400-meter run, throwing the discus, a 100-meter
hurdle race, pole vaulting, throwing the javelin, and a 1500-meter
run.